This invention relates to a drug filling machine used in a pharmacy or a hospital, vials, and a method of inspecting drugs. More specifically, the invention concerns a drug filling machine which separately keeps a plurality of kinds of drugs such as tablets and capsules and which can automatically fill a vial with drugs of a designated kind by a designated amount, vials suitable for use with this drug filling machine, and a method of inspecting drugs sealed in these vials.
This type of drug filling machine is disclosed in the U.S. Pat. No. 5,337,919 to Gregory et al. This apparatus has a vial supply assembly. A vial supplied from the vial supply assembly is fed to one of a plurality of dispenser units, where it is filled with drugs. The vial filled with drugs is placed on a rotary conveyor.
Prescription drug label data are printed on a label. These data include the name and amount of drugs, directions for use, name of the pharmacist in charge, name of the recipient. The label is then stuck on the vial.
Drugs put in the vial are inspected while referring to the data printed on the label to check if they are right drugs.
After putting drugs into the vial, its mouth is usually not closed until the drugs therein are inspected. Thus, the vial containing drugs may sometimes be left with its mouth kept open for a rather long period of time. During this period, potentially hazardous foreign matter may mix into the vial. It is also hygienically unfavorable to leave the mouth of the vial kept open for a long time.
The simplest solution to this problem is to cap the mouth of the vial immediately after filling it with drugs. But this cap has to be removed later when inspecting the drugs in the vial. This adds to the trouble of inspection work.
In such a case, it is an ordinary practice to close the mouth of a vial with a transparent sheet as soon as necessary drugs are put in the vial to prevent the entry of foreign matter. After inspecting the contents of the vial, a doctor or a pharmacist puts a cap on the vial. An ordinary cap may however be uncapped erroneously by e.g. a kid who might break the transparent sheet and drink the content. Thus, it is preferable to provide a locking means which can lock the cap.
Such a locking means includes a cylindrical portion protruding downward from the cap and adapted to be inserted into the top of the vial. Thus, it is necessary that the transparent sheet be suitably shaped so as to receive the cylindrical portion of the cap when the cap is put on the vial.
On the label of each vial, only the data on directions for use should be printed. But heretofore, data used by pharmacists and doctors when inspecting the contents of vials were also printed on the label. The latter data are not only unnecessary for patients but can confuse them.
It is thus preferable to print the latter data, i.e. data to be used by pharmacists and doctors, on an area of the vial separate from the label. More preferably, such data are removed after inspection by pharmacists and doctors. Further, in large pharmacies and hospitals, it is necessary to fill, inspect and distribute drugs with high efficiency and high accuracy.
An object of this invention is to provide an arrangement with which the vial can be sealed with a transparent sheet to prevent any foreign matter from entering the vial and it is possible to prevent any children from opening the cap, breaking the transparent sheet and drinking the content of the vial, and which can print data to be used by pharmacists and doctors separately from data printed on the label of each vial to prevent confusion of patients.
Another object of this invention is to provide an arrangement which can fill, inspect and pack drugs with high efficiency.